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Hmm, is the difference that you generally don't see orchids on live tree ferns but people grow them on bits of dead tree fern? So conditions on a live tree fern "rhizome" is different in some way? I guess catesetums are a bit different, don't they usually grow on palms which I think again usually don't have other epiphytes. In Brazil it's interesting to see that while some tree trunks in the Atlantic forest are covered with moss, ferns, creepers and orchids, others are completely smooth.

I attach a couple of interesting pictures ; the Paph is a rather rare
species - P.richardianum , which some botanists consider to be a sub-species
of P.lowii. A first flowering from a seedling - from the plant when newly
collected/discovered (?) I assume .

The other is a Miltassia ( I think) with big flowers, something like 6 inch
spread . A spike of 7 and a second spike of the probably the same number ,
still developing. I think it must be one of Everglades breeding ( Florida)
and have sent them a pic, asking them if they recognise it and can put a
name to it. It is the colouration which is so unusual - the green edged
tepals, and that coffee , chocolate and cream lip . Pity there are no local
shows although I shall take both to my local OS tonight.

Sorry Geoff I haven't got the important bit! When I tried to link to it the
m on the end of .htm was missing so worked when I typed it in. Once I'd
viewed I deleted the email but with luck someone else will have it. Jean

Lovely orchids Geoff. I love the Paph and the miltassia has a larger flower than I've ever seen. I have one new but ailing one with tiny flowers - don't know why I bought it as it isn't very beautiful and isns't very inspiring but I guess I couldn't say no!! I have a brand new Dell computer and I'm whizzing away. It too has XP and I'm not all that fond of it. I miss my Windows Millenium but suppose I'll get used to it eventually. Jean

Thank you so much Les! The photos have come through loud and clear. I love
the look of the flowers they certainly have sarco genes! The information
looks fascinating and I'm coming back after lunch to read through it
thoroughly. Thanks for sending it on it has made me more determined to try
and track one down. I'm hopeful I may succeed with them as my sarcos are now
doing really well - not all that large yet but I do have a good robust
flower spike which should open its flowers soon. Jean

Well Andy, you sure seem to be absolutely certain of their names, so I will write two labels this afternoon. Then comes Jean's reply. I am fairly certain that the 'Sharry Baby' does not fit, but the Burrageara Living Fire 'Redman' seems like a good name. However, as Andy's reply was straight to the point I am sticking with it.

Question is..........Andy McKeown..........that name rings a bell, but I don't know where from, so come on Andy enlighten me, and also tell me why you are so certain about the names.

You either have both of these plants, or, you know much more about them than I do.

At least they are two excellent plants, and they don't 'alf grow well.

I will go and look for it on Monday morning. You are right, woodlice are a
great pest ; they will chew the new leaves of phals, and the root tips of
anything with small dia. roots. One reason that one small phal and cattleya
nursery gave up was inability to control the things ( The chap whose name I
forget who had his nursery at Porlock in Somerset).

But all the ›experts“ at the RHS pooh pooh the idea „ woodlice are not a
serious pest they say &Ycirc; Show what they know !.

Geoff

Ps. Did you check out Jungle Monarch ? I said Jungle Moss, and maybe my
memory is at fault, but maybe not „ I think we are talking about the same
plant anyway , but I have found it difficult to get really good spikes from
what appear to be really good plants.

The Wildcatt is certainly a possibility for the other one ; I have three or
four clones of that grex, which are quite different from one another , and
Everglades also have a very dark red one similar to your pictures ;Joseph Wu
in Taiwan have an almost solid yellow clone „ but unfortunately have not
released meristems yet.

Having looked at several web sites and now knowing how popular this cross was, through seeing all of the variants, I thought I would include a scan of one flower, just in case you or someone may say that it is Colmonara Jungle Monarch 'whatever'.

If not I will be very satisfied indeed to just label it Colmonara Jungle Monarch.

The flower has lost some of its yellow colour at the ends of the sepals and petals due to it being out for some weeks.

Kind regards, Rocky.

P.S. Any idea of the parents? Suppose I could find it on the web, but that might take hours!!!

Ooww I'm well and truly drooling Rocky!lol I copied and pasted the name into my brower and there are dozens of links with the most wonderful photos of this lovely orchid!
Another one to keep a look out for at Shows this year. Thanks for the very useful tip on the tool for our war on woodlice. I always liked the little creatures that is until they took a massive chunk out of a large pseudobulb. I found a deep hollow and there were a few nesting quite happily inside!! I shall buy a tin as soon as possible. - Jean

I have no idea why my name should ring a bell with you other than my occasional postings here.

As for the plants - I do have the Colmanara Jungle Monarch - throws up spikes like nobody's business anhd yes it does have a nice perfume. I have two other clones of C Wildcat - (also very vigorous plants) and recognise your one as it is on my to get list. Here is a link for it http://www.nardottoecapello.it/dispimage.asp?folder=1&an=359&di=none&pn=2&ss=ALL+IMAGES
When you have a division to swap let me know.

Andy

Roger Grier wrote:

Hi Andy and Jean,

Well Andy, you sure seem to be absolutely certain of their names, so I will write two labels this afternoon. Then comes Jean's reply. I am fairly certain that the 'Sharry Baby' does not fit, but the Burrageara Living Fire 'Redman' seems like a good name. However, as Andy's reply was straight to the point I am sticking with it.

Question is..........Andy McKeown..........that name rings a bell, but I don't know where from, so come on Andy enlighten me, and also tell me why you are so certain about the names.

Jean, it is not a 'tin' but an aerosol spray can, just in case you thought different. Yes, do get one and see how terrific it is.

Geoff, how could the people at Kew not know how destructive Woodlice are !!!!!!!!!! Say no more.

Directions on the spray can say to spray it on a non absorbent surface. I spray it on the uprights of my aluminium staging in one greenhouse. In the wooden greenhouse with wooden benching, I spray it on pieces of flat aluminium about four inches square, which I just had hanging around. No doubt each and every one will find something suitable.

Hello Denis,
I am lexpecting an answer of somebody in the orchid-group named SFO, they are specialized in terrestrial european orchids. Could you please give me the mail of the people you were talking about?
Do you read french? I can send you some interesting reviews of my orchid-group...

I had a brief look on the web for 'Dethlac' as I was sure I was paying the higher price for it from a certain 'Garden Centre'.

Best I could see Geoff was from a store in your area. Name of 'Wilkinson'. They have a store in Boscombe/Bournemouth and Poole. Nothing in Southampton [don't blame them] but eastwards in Waterlooville/Pompy etc.

The price, including V.A.T. is £2.29..........that's a lot better than the £3.39 I paid for it.

I researched this a bit; Colmanara Jungle Monarch is Odtna Debutante x Onc
Maculatum - the Miltonia used in the Odtna was warsewiczii which is nowadays
(?) considered to be an oncidium - in fact it is nothing like any of the
other Miltonias.

Jungle Moss ( whch is a Burrageara) is Colmanara Jungle Monarch crossed with
an Oda ( Moseman) . So the two are very closely related.

Neither have been awarded by the RHS so there is no picture easily available
as a record.

Hello All,
Regarding the matter of Woodlice. I have spent all of my seventy plus years as a pro and armature gardener.My father explained to me what they were when I was about 5 years old. I see them in my orchid house, under the removable threshold and under a tray that I sometimes keep water in for humidity purposes and I must say that I have never ever seen any living article, roots for example, as has been mentioned, damaged by them. I do not regard them as a pest and can see hordes of them under practically any thing that has lain around outdoors when I move it. I think that the RHS is correct in not considering them as a pest. However, I am,in the summer months, and in a part of my house pestered by crawling ants. I clear these by the use of several sprays which all claim to take care of creepy crawlies in general and including woodlice.I have before me at present 3, Nippan, Big D as well as Rentokil. as well as another 2 in my garage,the names of which I can't recall. However, not having the need to use them for such I cannot confirm the claims. I would think that woodlice are easier to kill than ants. I am surprised that Geoff has them so soon in his brand new glasshouse.Interesting!
Ronbow.

I have a Cym 'Lemon Ice' x 'Gracious' and I need to find out cultural information on it. I was told it was a Chinese Cymbidium and should be grown like a phalenopsis by the local greenhouse. However I have been growing it in brighter light (south window and under additional lights) and in intermediate temperatures (12-23 c) because of almost everything I read. It seems stalled, and I am trying to figure out why. It is in a tall slender pot in semi-hydroponics. It's last new growth is about 9" tall and hasn't budged much over the winter, and no flowers either. A friend did a wildcatt search for me and it's major species contributors are 23% Cym insigne, 22% Cym lowianum, 18% cym pumilum, and 15% cym eburneum. Only the pumilum is a miniature that I could find out. It doesn't have any ensifolium, sininse, kanran, goeringii or forrestii in it which are the only Chinese cymbidiums I found. So I am really confused!!! Any help you could give me would be most appreciated, I would really like to see this plant get going.
Sharon in Calgary

All are described as 'fragrant' are in 1L pots and are either £10 or £12
each but I'm afraid postage and packing is £8
Tel. No. for Deva is: 01978 762454
If anyone is interested in having Ray's complete list I could scan it and
send it on if you let me know - Jean

I must go and look for the Wilco store ( the original one was in Handsworth
„ Birmingham „ when I was a kid , and the son of the founder , one David
Wilkinson went to the same primary school and was in my class ; have not
seen him since). I have been in their shops at times, e.g. Gloucester „ they
are run on a basis of cheap and cheerful . And I was going to ask you about
Dethlac , since my local garden centre ( Stewarts) is certainly not cheap
and cheerful ( cheerful maybe, but why not, the prices they charge! ) but
have never hear of Dethlac.

The Chinese ones are considered to be cold growing , but clearly yours is a
conventional cymbidium and in UK we would grow it in a cool house, meaning
winter night temperature a minimum of 10 degrees C or better 11 or 12 . The
main determinant for flowering is cool summer nights ; growing it in good
phalaenopsis conditions will cause it to go into rest and not grow. I am
afraid that I know nothing about the weather/climate in Calgary , but in UK
again , we might think of putting such a plant out of the greenhouse for the
summer ; the traditional quote is " under the dappled shade of an apple
tree" which may give you the idea. When in active growth needs heavy
watering - like every couple of days. It needs to be growing vigorously
now in order to produce buds in late summer which you don't see until maybe
the end of the year , and then flowers in very early spring ( or late
winter) . So its got out of synch ; often happens after a newly bought plant
has been in flower. Never mind, just try and conditions right, water it
lightly, and hope to get it back in the groove next year.

To victims and friends of the woodlouse,
I have always thought of the woodlouse as friend rather than a pest but, on looking 'em up on the web (that fount of all knowledge (?!) I found the following pages that victims of woodlice might care to read. The bottom line seems to be that they can be a nuisance with seedlings. Why not enlist help of a friendly frog or toad (we've just had one move in uninvited - but very welcome!). Maybe giving them a good meal at ground level might discourage their suspected high-level gourmet activities.
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/woodlice/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse note the cited diet! (some ancient Brits have a different definition of the doodlebug - and they were a pest)
http://www.earthlife.net/insects/isopoda.html
http://www.fruitbandit.co.uk/liceinfo.htm (see diet and when in greenhouses)
http://www.hdra.org.uk/factsheets/pc15.htm (seems to suggest nuisance problem in unclean greenhouses)
If all fails, you could try http://www.geocities.com/~gregmck/woodlice/recipes.htm as a more constructive and economic solution to the problem. (I did mention the value of the web as a source of all knowledge and I'll bet notalotta people knew of this aspect!)
John Stanley

I should be very interested to know whether Chris ( Channon - Deva) intends
to be at Newbury this year; my recollection is that usually he is not, but
I have missed it for the last year or two , and when I had a chat with him
when he was at a London Show, he told me that he thought of coming south a
bit more often. If he is there I will probably buy some more clones of
Wildcatt from him. Maybe his list mentions shows he is booked to attend ?
Geoff

I apologise for repeating a story but our newer members will not of heard it.
When I started growing orchids about 15yrs ago i was concerned that woodlice would damage my plants. I phoned RHS Wisley for advice on clearing them out .
Their advice--''Get a house brick, put the woodlouse on it. Then hit it with a hammer''
Regards

Olga, I am sorry but my French was at school 50 years ago. My wife speaks passable french but she is not that interested in orchids. I am slowly getting through that orchid book 'L'am des jardins'
The hotel address is Le domaine de la Tortiniere,
37250Montbazon-en-Touraine. Tel. 02 47 34 35 00
web site www.tortiniere.com
The owners are Anne and Xavier Olivereau.
Regards dennis

That is not Paph. callosum 'Jac', it looks like a hybrid of Paph.
chamberlainianum, victoria marie or other member of that group by
callosum 'Jac'. You may want to talk to the vendor you bought if
from, if you were looking for callosum 'Jac', you did not get it.

I am an amateur but haven't killed any of my plants yet. If the cymbidium
were mine I would put it out in a rain storm, water it once a week, and let
it feel a breeze through its leaves. It is a cool growing orchid so keep it
away from heat sources.

I have one which is very happy at the moment living on my south west facing
window (I live in England so no bright light at the moment). it has no
heating at night, temp gets down to 10c on average. it gets watered once a
week, dries out in between waterings. I rotate it so it gets even light.
It is merrily growing new growths, but has only very recently started doing
so and that was after a rain storm.

My cym will go outside for the summer until autumn, it will need cooler
temperatures to start spiking.

I suspct that P.callosum "Jack" was a parent, but this is not the named
plant. Jack is a very dark red form of the species ( callosum) but the
screwed petals and the multi-floral habit, suggest that the the other parent
was , for example, phillipinense - but other possibilities exist.
The dorsal is much too small to be a callosum , by the way.
Geoff

Geoff this present list doesn't give his itinerary for this year but I intend ringing him today or tomorrow to place an order and will ask him then and let you and the other members know - Jean
Francis - 'a rose by any other name.......'!! Whatever it's true identity - it looks a winner!
John!! Yuk!!!! I shall stick to Rocky's solution - thanks for the urls though I intend to visit all of them. Since a child I have always been a bit fond of the little creatures - until I found they had gouged out and nestled in one of my large psuedobulbs!

Thanks to both Geoff and Tom for your suggestions. I
will follow on from that.

Aeranthes- I know that it looks great, that is why I
bought it... Plus the fact that it has four (!) more
growths which will hopefully produce more flowers next
year! It is just that I'm a bit of a stickler when it
comes to know the names of my plants (sometimes I talk
to them and they like to be called by their first
names lol!).

Another orchid that I have no name for, possibly as it came without one!!! Since I last posted a 'Name that plant' on our Groups site, I was so pleased to get such a great response, especially from Andy McKeown and others. Also after punching in the name of the plants that Andy gave me, I, and Jean were both amazed at the wonderful websites out there.

My latest plant, see attachment, I feel sure that I have seen on one of the web sites..........but which one, that is the question. I shall have to 'Add to Favourites', and then give it my own special name so that I remember it for its certain types of orchids. Hell! The list grows longer.

But at least E-mail and the Internet enables us all to help each other and share information.

So, while I remember, Geoff, your two photos the other day, especially Paph. Rihardianum. My old friend, now departed from this world, taught me much about photography and he never went out into the New Forest on a very sunny day. He would wait until a thin film of cloud came over the sun, to stop any harsh shadows. Your photo of the Paph would look much better without the shadow. I'm sure you will agree.

Hi Rocky, it looks as though your orchid may be Oda. George McMahon (Odm. Parade 'Goldilocks' AM/AOS x Oda. Golden Rialt - have a look at this url which names an orchid looking like the one in your photograph. If you click on the small thumb nail it opens to a larger photo. - Jean http://www.odontoglossum.com/odonts.htm

Yep! Odontioda George McMahon it sure is, I can't argue with you two now can I!

I have began to work harder at 'Surfing the Web', and as Jean has shown me another great site for Odonts, I will have to wait until Mansell and Hatchers catalogue arrives and Chris Shannon gets back to his nursery so that I can order some of these wonderful plants.

One thing that I do like about my 'George McMahon' is that the markings are very symmetrical, and the 'little butterfly' on the lip is so nice.

As the markings are so good, I hope that one day I may be able to include the variant name. [Rocky] Ha,ha.

Nice pictures Rocky; any chance of making them a bit smaller in future? Say
around 25/30k, especially when sending more than one? I know I keep on
about it but some members of our group have quite low limits on the number
of kilobytes per message and any that exceed it are sent back unopened. I
suspect some of the limits are imposed by the ISPs, not the individuals, so
would be difficult to change. Not only is it a nuisance for me but more
importantly it means those members miss out on the photos.

Yep! All looks good to me, so here is what I did, and I hope that it will work for all of my future photos, and possibly will work for other members, depending of course on which Graphics Programme we all use.

I use Corel Photo Paint.

I open the photo in Corel Photo Paint.
Re-size it to 200mm x 150mm.
Compress it to the requires size.